CHAPTER XVI 

 THE SEA-FISHERIES 



Our food from the sea is in the main obtained from the 

 great commercial sea-fisheries, the discussion of which in 

 their scientific aspects is a very large subject, obviously only 

 to be outlined, with a few examples of different methods of 

 investigation, within the limits of a single chapter. It is 

 scarcely necessary to emphasize the vital importance of the 

 sea-fisheries which supply our markets. The harvest from 

 the sea was never of more importance to the nation than it 

 is now, and it probably will become of stiU greater importance 

 in future years. The sooner all classes of the population 

 learn to appreciate the value of fish as a highly nutritious 

 food, the better it will be for the welfare of the community, 

 and the greater will be the encouragement to those concerned 

 in the industry to use their best endeavours both to increase 

 the supply and to make the best possible use of it by preserv- 

 ing the produce, so that nothing caught be allowed to go to 

 waste. There is still much to be done in the two directions 

 (1) of exploiting local and periodic coastal fisheries and 

 discovering the best methods of making available for future 

 use what cannot be consumed at the moment ; and (2) of 

 educating the public to overcome prejudice and make a 

 fuUer and more systematic use of unaccustomed but 

 excellent fish food — such as, for example, the summer- 

 caught rich-in-fat herring cured in brine as a winter food. 



Most people have very little idea of the magnitude of our 

 British fisheries, now the greatest in the world, of the rate 

 at which they were increasing of recent years — ^before the 



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